


You Left Me?

by eviestevie



Category: RWBY
Genre: Also poor farm boi gets a little hurt but it’s not super bad, F/M, There’s hints at Mercury’s abusive past here so watch out for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27946316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eviestevie/pseuds/eviestevie
Summary: After finding he is all alone within Salem’s fortress, Mercury finds himself making an unlikely friend. Which he eventually escapes with in order to find Emerald.
Relationships: Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai
Kudos: 60





	You Left Me?

**Author's Note:**

> Pls CRWBY let Mercury save Oscar I’m BEGGING 🙏   
> It’s such a good opportunity so I hope it happens  
> (Let’s be honest, it probably won’t 🤡)

Mercury wondered the halls of Salem’s... fortress slowly, listening to the disturbing growls and rumbles echoing in the walls. It was quiet, too quiet. Throughout his exploration he saw and heard no one else but Tyrian and Hazel, both of which quickly disappeared to do who knows what.

He was alone with his thoughts, and he didn’t like that. Mercury didn’t want time to think, to ponder the choices he was making. 

This place, his position by Salem’s side, it was the only place for him. If there was anything Mercury had learned in his life while growing up, it’s that in order to live you had to do whatever it takes. And that means fighting for the winning side.

But... was he okay with that? He liked fighting, honestly it was the only thing he thought he was good at. Killing people was... a necessary step in this life he chose, to remove all those that opposed Salem’s goal and therefore keep on her good side.

Did he enjoy it? He wasn’t sure. However, whatever the answer was, he could probably tolerate it.

He could tolerate all of it. As long as she was there...

Emerald.

Mercury hadn’t seen her for a while now, it worried him, not that he would ever admit that to her. Last time he saw her, she was going after Cinder... as usual. 

He didn’t understand it; Emerald’s loyalty to Cinder, it infuriated him sometimes. Despite the way the Maiden acted, she continued to follow her. Cinder didn’t appreciate Emerald at all, and Mercury hated that. She didn’t deserve her faithfulness, the effort she put in to make her proud, Cinder didn’t deserve any of it. Yet Emerald persisted. Mercury didn’t understand it.

He wanted to see her, so he continued to walk the living halls of the fortress.

“Emerald?” He called.

No response.

“... Em?”

Nothing. Mercury heard no one, no voices or any type of sound to indicate that a person or any living thing was nearby.

There was silence, until...

“... Gone.” A deep voice responded.

Mercury jolted to attention and turned around immediately.

Salem’s experiment. It spoke. He felt his blood run ice cold as the creature looked at him. Despite having no eyes, Mercury could feel the monster’s gaze boring into him, breaking through his cracks and poisoning his body with fear.

Eventually, he realised what it had said. “Gone”? Emerald was... gone? Where? How did... this thing know that? Was it watching them?

Was it going to tell Salem that Emerald wasn’t here?

Mercury’s heart dropped to his stomach, if Emerald really... left, then Salem definitely wasn’t going to be happy.

He had to find someone, so he ran from the creature. Luckily it didn’t chase him, it only continued to stare even as he turned the corner and left its line of sight. Mercury continued to run as fast as his legs could carry him, ignoring how his erratic breathing made his chest ache from the sudden exertion. After running through the identical, pulsing halls for what felt like hours, Mercury was convinced he was going in circles. That was, until he heard a new sound.

Screaming.

It wasn’t Emerald, that was a relief. Mercury didn’t recognise the voice, however it sounded like whoever it was is in a great deal of pain. He heard another voice along with it, yelling angrily at the pained one. Mercury recognised this one.

“Hazel?” Mercury called desperately, panting heavily from the adrenaline rush that creature gave by talking to him, as well as the news it told him.

He stepped towards the room the yelling was coming from. Before he could knock or put his hand on it, it stretched open disgustingly like the flesh of an open wound, revealing a horrifying sight.

“W-what the fuck are you doing?” Mercury screamed, freezing in place at the doorway.

A boy lay on the ground, with Hazel’s foot pressed on his back, crushing him into the floor.

“Mercury? What are you doing here?” Hazel turned around to face him, his eyebrows shot up in surprise, as if he forgot they were all literally in the same boat.

“T-that’s a kid!” Mercury pointed to the boy on the floor, his hand trembling slightly.

“It’s Ozpin’s host!” Hazel shouted back, Mercury flinched at the volume of his words.  
“I’m making him pay!”

Mercury had to think quick. Try anything to stop this torture from happening.

He didn’t want to see it. It was too familiar.

“He’s unconscious!” Mercury replied.  
“You’re gonna kill him! What good is he then? You’ll just lose Ozpin again and have to go looking for his next host! So just... j-just leave him alone.”

Mercury felt the weight of the silence in the room as Hazel thought about what he said. Finally, he removed his foot off of the young boy, grumbling to himself as he left the room. Mercury remained in the doorway, staring down at Hazel’s victim.

Ozpin’s host. Oscar was it? He remembered seeing him briefly at Haven, though he doesn’t remember much else as he was preoccupied in his own fight. Mercury gazed over his unconscious body, he couldn’t leave him like this. There was always a chance Hazel would come back.

Mercury walked into the room and knelt by Oscar, carefully turning him over onto his side to look at him, he had a large black eye, a cut on his lip and a scorch mark on his torso. Mercury assumed that damage wasn’t done by Hazel.

“It’s none of my business.” Mercury thought.  
“I should just go find Em.”

Despite these thoughts, Mercury did not move from where he was kneeling. Something was keeping him there, a memory perhaps?

Slowly, Mercury sat by Oscar’s side, curling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around himself. He rested his cheek on his knees and watched the boy intently.

Waiting.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

When Oscar woke up his body immediately started aching. He turned onto his back and forced himself up, leaning his weight on one arm as he looked around the room.

He soon found that he wasn’t alone, as he saw an unexpected guest, apparently keeping him company. Mercury sat by the wall, still curled up but his face now facing down onto his knees. He appeared to be asleep. Oscar tried not to make a sound but the damage he had taken was too great and he groaned in pain as he sat up, clutching his ribs from where he remembered being stamped on.

Mercury stirred from the sound of his distress and looked up at Oscar. They both stared at one another, paranoid that one of them would strike or simply move too quickly.

“Mercury?” Oscar asked, his voice hoarse from screaming.

“You know my name?” Mercury replied, surprised that he had spoken up.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Oscar said, once again groaning in pain as his body screamed protests at the slightest movement.

“Oh... right.” Mercury muttered.

There was a long silence.

“Where’s your friend? The girl... Emerald, right?”

Mercury tensed up at that question. He felt a strange pain in his chest at the mention of her name.

“I thought she was always with you.” Oscar continued.

Mercury scoffed.

“Yeah, well... apparently she’s decided she doesn’t need me.”

“What?” Oscar asked.

“She’s gone.” Mercury answered, his tone much lower and sadder than he wanted it to be.  
“I don’t know where but... she’s gone.”

“On her own?”

“Probably not.” Mercury forced a cruel chuckle.  
“Since Cinder and that weird Neo girl doesn’t seem to be here either. She’s probably went chasing after her dear old Cinder... as usual.”

A single tear fell from Mercury’s eye, he wiped it away furiously.

Oscar frowned, he could see how upset Mercury truly was. Although he probably should have feared Mercury, he felt the need to help him.

“Hey... it’s okay. I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt you by leaving.” Oscar said.

“She didn’t hurt m—“

“You don’t have to do that.” Oscar interrupted.  
“Pretend like it’s okay. I mean... it’s just us. No judgement here.”

Mercury paused for a moment. He didn’t like this. Not the fact that he was upset, but the fact that Oscar didn’t judge him for it. It just seemed... too nice of him. Too selfless.

Although, this was someone from team RWBY’s group, so he shouldn’t be surprised really.

“... I guess... it does hurt.” Mercury spoke hesitantly.  
“... a little.”

“That’s okay. It’s normal to feel hurt or be upset.” Oscar explained.  
“Feeling things like anger and sadness are just as normal as feeling happy. It’s all in moderation.”

“... You’re weirdly smart for a kid.”

“I’m fifteen.”

“That’s a kid!”

“Not really...”

“It is!”

“I’m a teenager! Like you!”

“You’re a kid to me.”

Surprisingly, Oscar laughed at that.

“What?” Mercury asked, perplexed.

“Nothing, it’s just.” Oscar paused before speaking again.  
“It’s... kind of nice to be seen as... well as me, y’know? My own person. Not just Ozpin’s host... Although, I’d still prefer not to be called a kid.”

“I don’t care. You look like a kid, so I’m calling you a kid.” Mercury huffed, standing up and stretching. 

He felt oddly relaxed talking to Oscar. Mercury wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

“Can I ask you something?”

“... That depends. What is it?” Mercury grew suspicious of Oscar’s curiosity.

“Did you... did you help me?” Oscar asked.

“... Why would you think that?” Mercury replied, folding his arms and looking away.

“Before I passed out, I heard you yelling at Hazel. And well, after that he left. So...”

“You were awake for that?” Mercury almost yelled, looking back at him. He assumed he would’ve been knocked out cold due to what Hazel was doing to him.

“Just barely.” Oscar slowly began to smile.  
“So... you were helping me.”

“I... shut up! I was not!” Mercury denied, once again looking away from him.

“Why? Why did you help me?”

This kid just kept asking questions that threw him off guard. Though he had a point. Why did he help him? He gained nothing from it and possibly risked getting on Hazel and maybe even Salem’s bad side. Something he swore he would never do.

So why did he do it?

Memories flooded back into Mercury’s head. Times from when he was younger, maybe even Oscar’s age. His father, the pain, the shouting.

“... I suppose... in that moment, you... reminded me of... m-myself.”

Oscar’s heart sank. Did Hazel hurt Mercury like he hurt him? Or was it something else?

“Oh... Mercury I... I’m so sorry—“

“Let’s go.”

“W-what?”

“We’re going. Neither of us can stay here, not unless we want Salem to have our heads on a stick for Tyrian to play with.” Mercury walked over to Oscar and pulled him to his feet.

“I’m not really in a “escaping” condition at the moment— Woah!”

Oscar’s protests were interrupted as Mercury quickly picked him up and started running straight to the hangar where the last few ships were being kept.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Their escape was... not the smoothest. Salem’s creation; The Hound, had saw them heading for the last ship. It quickly raised the alarm, an ear splitting roar was heard through the sky, and a large swarm of Grimm followed the ship. Eventually, it was too overwhelming, and Mercury was forced to make an emergency landing. They quickly ditched the ship and hid away in a valley of ice, waiting until the Grimm lost interest and flew back to their lair.

“What now?” Oscar questioned, panting vigorously as he obviously still hadn’t recovered from his earlier encounter with Hazel.

“Now...” Mercury’s mind went blank, he was really winging this.  
“Now, uh... we... W-we follow the river!”

“The river?”

“It’s a long story. Crazy boss’ plan.”

“Well... why are we going to follow it?”

“Because...” Mercury knelt down so he could carry Oscar on his back.  
“With any luck, we’ll find Emerald.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

“They’ll definitely be around here somewhere.” Mercury muttered.

They made their way to the Grimm River, Mercury continued to carry Oscar as they walked alongside the edge, following it to the kingdom of Atlas floating in the distance.

“Even if we do see them, how will they see us? They’re in a ship.” Oscar pointed out, his voice sounding tired as he fought off sleep.

“I can make a signal, and since there’s nothing else out here we’ll be pretty easy to spot.” Mercury explained.

Oscar did his best to listen, but the slow rocking from Mercury’s walking made it hard to stay awake. His companion noticed this and decided it would be best to keep talking to him in order to keep him awake.

“Hey. It’s a little too cold to be sleeping out here, kid.” Mercury warned, lifting Oscar up a little higher so he wouldn’t slip.

“I can’t really help it I’m afraid.” Oscar replied.  
“It’s been a rough night.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Can I just have five minutes?”

“Not unless you want to go limp and I drop you by accident. C’mon man! You gotta stay awake! Keep that blood pumping so you stay warm.”

“I guess...” Oscar yawned, adjusting his grip around Mercury’s shoulders. He had a point, if he fell asleep and let go of him, he would likely drop. And the river they were following didn’t look like a nice one to swim in.

“Just keep talking to me. I’ll keep you awake.” Mercury suggested.

“Alright... can you tell me about yourself?” Oscar asked.

“You like poking your nose, huh?”

“No, it’s not like that! It’s just... well, you’ve basically betrayed Salem now. You definitely can’t go back, so that means the next best place is with us. It’d be better if we knew a little about you.”

“I... yeah that’s a good point.” Mercury sighed.  
“My stories aren’t very jolly though, just to warn you.”

“That’s okay.” Oscar mumbled.  
“Just tell me anything. I’ll listen. Like, uh... how did you join Salem?”

Mercury looked up at the sky, gazing at the stars as he spoke.

“Well... at first it was just Cinder. She and Emerald came to my house to look for my father and... yeah, let’s just say he was no longer of service, so I took her offer. Only after that would I find out about “Her Grace” and what we were actually fighting for.”

“Were you okay with that?”

“I don’t know... on one hand, I had somewhere to be, a goal to work towards. But... Salem isn’t the most friendly boss.”

“Don’t remind me.” Oscar breathed a chuckle.

“She terrified me. She still does. So, I made sure to do everything they asked of me because... it was either that or die in the hellfire apocalypse she’s been planning out for who knows how long. Heh, but I guess that’s all out the window now, huh?”

“You’re fighting against the crazy immortal witch now, congrats!” Oscar mumbled sarcastically, somehow still engaging in the conversation despite his exhaustion.

“Yeah... I guess I am.” Mercury muttered, looking back down towards the glowing lights of Atlas.

There was a moment of silence before Oscar spoke up again.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You’ve been asking me a bunch of things so why not?” Mercury chuckled.

“Do you... have a semblance?” Oscar shook his head to wake himself up slightly.  
“I’ve only seen you fight a little. But I don’t remember if I ever saw you using it.”

Mercury paused, stopping to look down at his feet.

“... No, I don’t have one.” He continued walking.

“You don’t?”

“No. It was... taken.”

“How? Is that even possible?”

“My father...” Mercury refused to continue that sentence.

“Oh...” Oscar muttered.  
“Well... I don’t have my semblance.”

“Really?”

“No, it hasn’t developed yet.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I’m serious!” Oscar protested.  
“I don’t know why though. But, if I had to take a guess, I would say the whole “Ozpin” thing is making it... complicated.”

“Huh... I never thought we would have something in common going on.” Mercury confessed.

“Me neither. But I guess we’re not so different.” Oscar replied.

Not so different. Mercury hated how right that statement sounded. His mind went back to Hazel, how badly he hurt Oscar. Just like him... his father.

No, Hazel wasn’t like him... was he?

“... I never thought Hazel would do something like that.” Mercury muttered, mostly to himself.  
“You’re a kid, and he just... I thought Hazel was... a nice guy, y’know? He’s always been gentle with me and Emerald. But to see him do that to you...”

“Hazel is in a lot of pain.” Oscar said, surprising Mercury with a response.  
“He blames Ozpin for the loss of his sister. And since I’m Ozpin’s host... that puts me in a tough position.”

“But you’re not Ozpin.” Mercury said.  
“Just because he hates him doesn’t mean he can take it out on you.”

“I know—“

“You never chose to be a part of this! You were dragged into it unwillingly!”

“Mercury—“

“I never wanted this!”

“What do you mean?” Oscar asked.

Mercury froze.

“... W-when I saw Hazel hurting you, it... it brought back some memories.”

Oscar hesitated, before he asked one final question.

“Mercury, what happened to you?”

It was a muted question, so quiet that the wind could have easily picked it up and Mercury could have pretended he never heard it.

But he did.

“... It’s a long story.” That was his final answer.

Oscar felt guilty for pushing so much. It was obvious that Mercury’s past was a tough subject for him, so he decided not to pry any further and respect his privacy. Oscar was lucky enough to have Mercury saving him, so he didn’t want to damage this new, fragile companionship by making him uncomfortable.

Instead, he decided to try cheering him up.

“You’re not so bad, you know.” Oscar muttered.

“Really?” Mercury drawled sarcastically.

“Hey, I mean it! After all... you saved me. That’s a pretty nice thing to do.”

Mercury scoffed.

“How dare you! I’m an assassin. A merciless killer. I have done things your little mind can’t even comprehend.”

“Funny, you said I was smart before.”

“Yeah, well not anymore, kid.”

“Oh no, my poor ego. How cruel!”

“Yes! Cower at my hatred!” Mercury said jokingly.

Oscar pressed his face tiredly into Mercury’s shoulder.  
“All that hatred makes you warm.”

“Warm”. That was the complete opposite of what Mercury would describe himself to be.

“Screw you kid.” Mercury said, ignoring how his voice cracked slightly.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ultimately, Oscar ran out of energy to talk and kept dozing off. Mercury did his best to support his limp body without dropping him and carefully listened to his breathing to make sure he was alright.

The ice cracked where he walked, so he quickly stepped out the way. The River always did this occasionally, but that was the closest it had ever gotten. Mercury peered down into the Grimm filled abyss, feeling nauseated at how it moved, he quickly looked away from it. Checking over his shoulder that Oscar was still asleep, he then continued walking.

He was jealous of the young boy’s relaxation, Mercury desperately wanted to rest, to just sit down, possibly for a few minutes. Maybe he could find somewhere to stay for a while until he had the energy to continue. He stopped and scanned the tundra, it was beginning to snow quite heavily, so it was hard to see very far. This worried him, if he didn’t collapse from exhaustion, then he was likely to freeze instead as he could feel his aura slowly dropping.

Suddenly, he heard the whirring of a ship engine. At first he was startled, assuming it was the Atlas military, but then he quickly remembered why he was out here in the first place. Mercury placed Oscar down, leaning him against a rock so he didn’t have to lay completely in the snow, then he sent a few high kicks into the air, releasing some white flares up towards the ship. For a split second, he thought the ship had missed it due to the weather, but it looped around and landed gently onto the tundra, keeping its distance from the large split in the landscape.

The ship opened and a long awaited face stepped out.

“Mercury?” Emerald called, baffled at what she was seeing.  
“What happened? What are you doing out here?”

“We can’t go back Em.” Mercury answered, heading back to pick up Oscar.

“Is that the Ozpin kid?”

“I’ll explain later, can we please just find somewhere to get out of this storm?”

Emerald looked like she wanted to argue, her eyes darting between Mercury, Oscar and the ship. Eventually, she just sighed and gestured for the two boys to come with her to the ship.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

The ship was parked into a large cave upon the side of a mountain. It had enough space to make a small camp, where an unconscious Cinder and Oscar were placed in sleeping bags, the Maiden’s bag was wrapped tightly as no one wanted to face her rage when she awoke. Neo remained seated in the ship, though she kept the screen down so she should keep an eye on their sleeping teammates, if she could even call them that. Meanwhile, Emerald and Mercury stood outside the cave, looking out over the mountain range. After explaining why they were out here, neither one of them said anything. Both of them needed time to process what the other had done.

“I can’t believe you...” Mercury muttered, pacing and running his hands through his hair stressfully.

“Oh, you can’t believe me? You betrayed Salem! That’s like... the worst thing you could’ve possibly done!”

“And you disobeyed Salem! Besides, I had my reasons.”

“What? The kid? He’s Ozpin’s host, you should’ve just left him be, but no! Now you’ve got a target on your back, and you’ve probably dragged me into it too. But of course, I’m not surprised, you’re always dragging me into trouble!” Emerald threw up her hands in frustration. Mercury desperately tried to hide how he flinched away.

“You weren’t there Em, if you could’ve seen what Hazel and Salem were doing to him—“

“I would’ve turned a blind eye to it, moved on! Not get involved and put myself at risk!”

“I couldn’t do that!”

“Why? How come all of a sudden you care about some random kid? One that, might I add, is on our enemy’s side!”

“I—“

“You’re not the type to care Merc, I thought you were all about “looking out for yourself”, y’know, not giving a damn about anyone else. Just doing it for survival!”

“That’s not true I—“

“Why did you step in Merc? Tell me!”

“BECAUSE IT REMINDED ME OF MY FATHER! ALRIGHT?” He yelled furiously, his voice echoing through the mountains.

Silence fell. Emerald flinched away, which made Mercury immediately regret raising his voice. His shoulders dropped in defeat.

“It... it reminded me of him. When I saw Hazel... the kid... I... I thought of myself.” Mercury felt tears burn in his eyes, threatening to spill. So he did the only thing he knew to do when this happened, he wiped away at his face harshly with his hands.

“Cover it up. Don’t break. Don’t show weakness. It always made him mad when you cried.” He thought.

Emerald stepped forwards.

“Mercury...”

“Why did you leave me?” His voice cracked.

“W-what?”

“I was alone up there. I didn’t know where you were and...” Mercury trailed off, he looked up at Emerald, waiting for an explanation.

“I...” Emerald found it hard to look at him, she sighed.  
“I wanted to help Cinder.”

“Why?”

“I had my reasons.” She echoed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mercury demanded, his tone turning harsh.

“I... I didn’t think you’d want to help.”

“You could’ve at least asked me!”

“Why? You hate Cinder, I didn’t think you’d want anything to do with her!”

“I want nothing to do with Cinder! But I want everything to do with you!” Mercury embraced Emerald tightly, stunning the girl into silence once again, but in a much different way.

“Please, Em...” Mercury said, his voice sounding so small and fragile as tears finally flowed freely down his face.  
“You’re all I’ve got, so... don’t go.”

Emerald returned the embrace, feeling tears of her own flow from her eyes.

“Okay...” She muttered.


End file.
